Precious Jewels Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time at this diverse, welcoming nursery. They develop close bonds with the staff team, who reflect their cultural and religious backgrounds. Children arrive happy and separate from their parents with ease to join their friends engaged in meaningful play. Staff provide fun opportunities that help to promote children's literacy skills. For example, older children learn to recognise letters of the alphabet and the sounds that they make as they play alphabet bingo. They concentrate intently and jump for joy when they identify letters from their card. Children's early writings skills are fostered well and they enjoy making marks for purpose. For instance, younger children create lines and circles on paper, while the older children create recognisable stick people on wipe boards with markers.

Staff support children's communication and language skills effectively. They help children with language delays and those who speak English as an additional language to develop their vocabulary successfully. For example, staff regularly read stories and sing songs with the children and use pictures that help children to understand the meaning of new words. They introduce new words, such as Jupiter, Mars and Uranus, to extend children's language. Children behave well as staff are positive role models. Children are encouraged by staff to be polite and say please and thank you. Children's self-esteem and confidence are developed successfully as they receive lots of praise for their accomplishments.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• Staff have a good understanding of how children learn and develop. They provide children with a broad curriculum that interests and motivates them to learn. Children engage in activities that are based on their next steps and individual interests. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress in relation to their starting points.
• Children have plenty of opportunities to play outside in the garden and develop good physical skills. They move around with confidence on balance bikes. Children confidently use their feet and their core to help them to balance and propel themselves around obstacles in their path.
• Young children have access to a cordoned off area to sleep. However, the current sleeping arrangements for children are not planned as carefully as possible to help all children get a good quality of sleep.
• The management team and staff have high expectations for the children. They developed effective partnerships with parents and outside professionals, such as the speech and language therapist, and occupational therapist. Parents speak positively about the care their children receive. They feel that their children's needs are met and that they progress well in their learning. Parents are encouraged to be involved in their children's learning, for example, through parents' evenings and completing 'All About Me' forms.
• Children have many opportunities to be creative explore and investigate using a range of different materials. They access paints, stickers, glue and glitter to create Christmas cards for their family. Children's creativity is further promoted as they access musical instruments from around the world to create a range of melodies and rhythms.
• Children have healthy, nutritious meals throughout the day. Their independence is encouraged as they dish out their own meals, pour their drinks and scrape out their plates. Children are encouraged to try different tastes and textures. For example, they have hands on experience of learning about the natural world as they have planted and tend to tomatoes. Children are eager to harvest the tomatoes when ripe and help wash them in preparation for snack time.
• The management team regularly evaluate staff's practice through in the moment coaching, one-to-one meetings, staff meetings and appraisals. However, supervision processes do not always link together to specifically target and strengthen the practice and teaching of the staff to the highest level.
• Self-evaluation is used well to identify further ways to build on the good practice. The management team is committed to maintaining good overall standards.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider the organisation of the sleep area and rest time routines, to further promote children's health and well being
• strengthen coaching and training for staff, so that it targets their individual development needs and helps raise the quality of education to the highest level.